Kane Brown must be doing “One Thing Right” because he’s starting his very own record label.
The country star’s new venture is in partnership with Brown’s current label he’s signed with, Sony Music Nashville. What’s more, the country sensation has signed his first band to 1021 Entertainment. The group, Restless Road, also released their debut single, “Took One Look at Her Momma,” with Brown’s new project.
Kane Brown tells Variety that having his own label wasn’t always in the cards for him. However, he continues, “but we just got to a point where I started finding artists online, and the only thing I could really do at the time was just refer them over to my label and hope that they get a record deal. We knew that we had a platform and I knew the people that I wanted to sign first, so I started talking to my manager and found out that we could do it as a joint venture with Sony, and we just kind of went all-in at once.”
Brown’s New Endeavor Really Isn’t New at All
Before Brown took to representing Restless Road, he was bringing the group along with him on the road. Restless Road was opening for the “Famous Friends” singer before the pandemic. Additionally, Brown even took them on the “Today” show with him.
As a matter of fact, Restless Road won’t be new news to Brown’s diehard fans. He features the band on one of his songs, “Take Me Home.” This track has 4.7 million Spotify plays.
Brown is using his platform of fame to influence the path for Restless Road.
“I’m really big on trying to use my social media and my fans to grow their fan base,” Brown says. “I’ll be bringing them out on the road with me for all the tours that we do, getting them out in front of my audience. They’ve never even toured, and their first tour is going to be in front of 12,000-plus people every night. We’ve got my manager (Martha Earls) on the team as well, helping develop and get in front of people as well.”
The Tennessee native believes that Restless Road fills a void in the country genre. Brown says that the group isn’t just a band with one solo artist and musicians as backups. Rather, Restless Road is a vocal-harmony band that can trade off lead singers.
“What I love about them is not only do they have great personalities, but they all can sing,” he says. “Bands usually have one lead singer and everybody else will be the background or the harmonies. But on their songs, one verse will be Garrett (Nichols) and the next verse will be Colton (Pack) and then the next verse will be Zach (Beeken), and they all sound completely different. But they also bring old-school harmonies back, which I love — and it’s been gone out of country music. So the sky’s the limit for them. They’ve still got a lot to do to grow, but they’re on their way.”
Kane Brown Explains Significance of ‘1021’
Fans of the 27-year-old singer-songwriter might be wondering why the numbers ‘1021’ in 1021 Entertainment. Brown explains the meaning behind the four digits in his record label’s name.
“It’s my and my manager’s birthday,” he says. Their birthdays are Oct. 21. “And it was (the date of) my first No. 1 with ‘What Ifs,’ and the first time I ever released music was October 21, so it kind of just became a thing.”
What’s more, Kane Brown isn’t planning on stopping at representing just one music group. He already has his sights set on the future.
“I kind of look at myself as the head, but also the A&R. I’m pretty good on finding people who I think can be different or break out, and I’ve already found a couple that I would love to sign right now,” Brown says.
“But I don’t really want to sign anybody else until we break Restless Road,” he says, “because I know how it is for artists that get signed to a label and kind of get stuck on a shelf. I just want to put all my focus behind them, and then once we break them, go for the next one.”
